(tranquil music)
I care that people can't afford it.
I care that there's people being put in jail for this.
I'm an underdog fighter, that's who I give a shit about.
(soft r & b music)
Someone coined the term Green Fairy,
I didn't choose it, but it stuck,
and it's quite sweet, really,
I guess everyone needs a fairy in their life.
(soft r & b music)
I don't advocate smoking cannabis.
I don't suggest any patient smoke cannabis.
If they're critically ill,
I would suggest drops under the tongue, or a tincture,
or maybe an edible, it depends on their condition,
or suppositories, there's just so many ways
that we can micro-dose for pain relief.
In 2015, I started campaigning for Alex, my son,
to use cannabis as medicine in Wellington Hospitals.
(tranquil music)
Following through from that,
I realised that I wouldn't want
to not be given the right to choose,
and so, for me, its always been a right to choose medicine.
Well-known medical marijuana campaigner Rose Renton,
is facing up to 14 years behind bars
for cannabis offences.
The 44 year-old's accused of cultivating cannabis,
as well as producing and supplying balm
and brownies containing cannabidiol.
I knew that I would probably
have to go through the court process
and come out without a conviction,
to make any sort of progress.
(soft r & b music)
I seem to have been used as a catalyst for change.
And so, I'm quite happy about that,
I mean, the court process was gruelling,
it was really difficult for my family,
there was so much media,
and I think that fear tends to stop us
from joining together and speaking out.
(crowd chanting)
I was doing what I was doing, to help others,
I wasn't doing it
to blatantly break laws,
and I think New Zealand knows that.
(soft r & b music)
These are cannabis roots,
and you can see they emulate the nervous system,
so they have a strong taproot.
Then they have branch roots
and then the tiny roots,
exactly like we do, as humans,
we have a spine
and we have
our nervous system,
and then, yeah, so, an endocannabinoid system.
So the plant emulates the human nervous system.
(soft r & b music)
We're gonna do a,
how I put the balm together,
so it's the root balm.
So, what do you use the balm for?
Arthritis, bruising, cramp, insomnia.
Restless legs, nerve damage,
inflammation.
(soft r & b music)
There's a lot of talk about this,
but, at the moment, it's bare land.
So who's dealing with the people that are suffering?
That's where Green Fairies can access
a grower, a strain,
and get a product out, within weeks.
So the scale that they're growing
means it's years away, 18 months away.
We may need that scale,
because it would be lovely that all those patients,
but, again, it'll come down to cost,
so, how much is the product?
What strains are they using?
And how much patient to,
that supportive patient contact,
are we just gonna put everyone on CBD
and not have the conversation?
(soft r & b music)
No.
No, I'm not gonna stop.
Because why should
the corporate model
take over
where the communities need it?
Like,
(sighing)
you can't tell me they're not about profit.
I'm about the people.
If I was about money,
I would've joined them.
For me, we'll be across the line
when homegrown rights,
and I that's again, him, that's Alex,
and so, yeah, he'd be extremely proud,
highly amused,
and absolutely tickled pink that
his life, although short,
and his death,
was not for no reason,
and...
Yeah, I think,
he's never far from me.
He's there.
(sniffling)
But a lot of what I do
is a reflection of who
he was.
So he w as one of those people that always cared.
Wouldn't matter if he was stressed, or busy,
(sniffling)
he always gave you the time of day.
And he always used to say, "You know, mum,
"you could make a difference."
(soft music)